In a desperate attempt to dismiss the ongoing IRS scandal, on MSNBC's The Daily Rundown
on Tuesday, host and NBC News political director Chuck Todd seized on
reports "that it wasn't just conservative groups who were targeted by
the IRS" and wondered if it was "turning into a story of Republicans overplaying their hand." [Listen to the audio[1]]

Turning to his panel of guests, absent any conservative, Todd proclaimed: "The
IRS 'scandal' looks like it's a bureaucratic scandal. Not the political
scandal that Republicans were wishing that they had come up with."
He made air quotes with his hands as he said the word "scandal."
Panelist Michelle Bernard eagerly agreed with Todd's assertion:
"Absolutely. They – it appears that they have really overplayed their
hand."

After Todd lamented how the Obama White House had "stumble[d] out of
the gate in their response" to the scandal, White House correspondent
Kristen Welker touted reporting that liberal keywords were also included
on IRS political target lists: "This certainly gives them a leg up"

Wrapping up the exchange, Todd attacked House Oversight Committee
Chairman Darrell Issa for daring to investigate the scandal: "I mean
this is the guy who is, I mean he is living the fable of the boy who
cried wolf at this point. If you're John Boehner, don't you want to
replace this guy? At this point, you could argue he's losing a lot –
lost a lot of credibility as a watchdog."

That teed up Bernard to rant:

John Boehner needs to do something. He needs to speak to Darrell Issa,
he's got to get the House under control, and he's got to decide, is he
going to be – what is his legacy going to be in the history books? Is he
going to be an effective speaker or is he going to be someone who has
allowed the most conservative wing of the Republican Party to run
roughshod over him and basically do absolutely nothing as members of
Congress.

In another segment with the panel minutes later, Todd reiterated his
dismissive attitude toward the IRS scandal: "It's been a White House on
defense, we just talked about with the IRS scandal, sort of –
quote/unquote 'scandal,' excuse me – controversy less polarizing and
partisan, maybe perhaps in the rearview mirror..."

Todd was so busy acting as White House stooge that he ignored basic
facts of the scandal that showed conservative groups were the only ones
actually harassed by the IRS.

Tea Party groups that were singled out for extra scrutiny saw their
applications delayed – in some cases, for years – as IRS agents tried to
determine whether they could be considered social welfare groups, and
therefore, exempt from paying taxes....It still appears that Tea Party
groups were asked far more questions and made to wait much longer than
progressive groups. And Scott, Republicans point out that so far, not a
single progressive group has come forward to tell Congress that they're
upset about the way they were treated by the IRS.

Todd's effort to spin for the White House was reminiscent of his
left-wing MSNBC colleague Chris Matthews going out of his way to label
the IRS scandal a mere "kerfuffle."[2]

Here is a transcript of the June 25 Daily Rundown panel discussion:

9:44AM ET

CHUCK TODD: We're now learning that it wasn't just conservative groups
who were targeted by the IRS. A new report shows that liberal groups
were in the IRS's line of sight as well. So is this turning into a story
of Republicans overplaying their hand or more of a story about the
White House's struggle to get ahead of a bad news cycle? Lets bring in
our gaggle. From the Bernard Center for Women in Politics and Public
Policy, Michelle Bernard, my NBC colleague at the White House, Kristen
Welker, and Democratic strategist Tracy Sefl. So, Michelle, let me start
with you. The IRS [makes air quote marks] "scandal" looks like it's a
bureaucratic scandal.

MICHELLE BERNARD: It is.

TODD: Not the political scandal that Republicans were wishing that they had come up with.

MICHELLE BERNARD: Absolutely. They – it appears that they have really
overplayed their hand. It's still a scandal, it's a problem, this is not
what the IRS is supposed to be doing. This kind of behavior is
absolutely horrific. But that being said, the Republican Party was
trying to make this into something so absolutely awful and now we find
out that they were looking at Democratic groups as well as Republicans.

TODD: I might argue, was the behavior horrific or was this an
overwhelmed IRS agency on 501c-4s and the whole part of the un – I mean,
I think one of the things we haven't talked about is the shadiness of
that – of that law...

BERNARD: Of the 501c-4s.

TODD: ...and maybe that that is the issue. But Kristen, you and I
watched this White House frankly stumble out of the gate in their
response to this. Almost they were so fearing the political impact that
they sort of let this – they almost gave it, by their lack of reaction,
gave it legs.

KRISTEN WELKER: Right, I think that's right. They were slow to react,
and when they did, it was jumbled and confusing. So this certainly gives
them a leg up. But I think the question is what happens next. And a lot
of people are going to be looking to see what happens with Lois Lerner.
She oversaw the tax exempt division, she's been placed on
administrative leave. Of course a lot of promises came out of the
findings yesterday by Danny Werfel, are they going to put those into
action, will they make a real change.

TODD: You know, Tracy, what the White House will tell me, is part of
the reason for their lack of urgency is that they in there knew that
they weren't this – they didn't do anything wrong. That this was sort of
something that happened on their watch, but that sort of – and that
explains the sort of lack of a sense of urgency.

TRACY SEFL: Sure.

TODD: So how should they deal with this now?

SEFL: Well, any White House would rather be dealing with some sort of
bureaucratic ineptitude problem than some sort of nefarious scandal. And
so that part's-

TODD: Sure. And they knew it was bureaucratic ineptness.

SEFL: And that's a difficult thing to unwind and unravel and the
complexity of any federal organization like that. You can't just
immediately be able to see all the way from end to end. And so certainly
there was some time involved in the unraveling of this, the testimony
is the reporting. And when those things happened, it's always better, in
this case, to have the ineptitude rather than a scandal.

TODD: Well, of course. This sort of brings me to Darrell Issa at this
point. I mean this is the guy who is, I mean he is living the fable of
the boy who cried wolf at this point.

BERNARD: Exactly.

TODD: If you're John Boehner, don't you want to replace this guy as – I
mean this – Government Reform [Committee] is the Congress's watchdog.

BERNARD: Yes.

TODD: At this point, you could argue he's losing a lot – lost a lot of credibility as a watchdog.

BERNARD: Well, Darrell Issa has lost a lot of credibility, but over
recent weeks, just looking at the farm bill last week, John Boehner has
lost a lot of credibility also. This is a – this is a point in time,
Chuck, where John Boehner needs to do something. He needs to speak to
Darrell Issa, he's got to get the House under control, and he's got to
decide, is he going to be – what is his legacy going to be in the
history books? Is he going to be an effective speaker or is he going to
be someone who has allowed the most conservative wing of the Republican
Party to run roughshod over him and basically do absolutely nothing as
members of Congress. It's a huge issue of governance, not just for the
Speaker, but for Congress in general.

(...)

9:55AM

TODD: Tracy, it's been a White House on defense, we just talked about
with the IRS scandal, sort of – quote/unquote "scandal," excuse me –
controversy less polarizing and partisan, maybe perhaps in the rearview
mirror, Benghazi in the rearview mirror. You know, climate change is an
attempt to tackle, at least make it look like he's running Washington
again.

SEFL: Not again, but still. And certainly as he enters this second
term and really gets going, the more policy actions that we can see, I
think, the happier a lot of people are going to be. As opposed to
scandal, scandal, scandal or pseudo-scandal.

(...)

-- Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. Click here[3] to follow Kyle Drennen on Twitter.

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